While using white noise to put babies to sleep may be gaining popularity, the parenting technique could be stunting their development, experts say, and it could become a “public health” issue.
According to a recent study by The Sleep Doctor, 37% of parents said their children need background noise to fall asleep. However, the most popular method (45%) is to play white noise on the radio or cell phone.
But experts have raised concerns that using such noises to put babies to sleep could have harmful effects on their language development, according to Dr. April Benasich, a world expert on sleep at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
The latter explained to the Daily Mail that the monotonous tone of white noise could affect a child’s “acoustic mapping,” the part of their brain that helps them understand and learn language.
So, while it is important for a child to hear acoustic variations when they are awake, it is vital that they also hear them while they are asleep, since this is when their brain is more likely to develop and adapt by creating new neurons and networks, said the expert, who has worked with 5,000 families in her laboratory.
“When I found out that all the parents were using white noise… I was like, ‘Oh my God. What are people doing to their kids?’ I think it’s going to be a public health issue,” she said.
So experts recommend background noises that have variations, whether it’s the sound of ocean waves or even a heartbeat. Even a lullaby that plays on repeat is better than white noise, even if it becomes tiring for parents in the long run.
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